2/20/13 Half Day Backcountry Fishing Islamorada

Well season has kicked off with a bang here in islamorada, florida keys.  Just about everything that floats has been on the water this week, I myself have had double half days most every day, so you know the people are in town!  Fishing in the backcountry of Islamorada had started a little slow this week as we had a late cold front which was the coldest it got all winter.  Some of the backcountry waters got into the high 50s... brrrr!  Today it got back up to 70 or so which is good news for fishermen!  Yesterday we managed to catch some snappers for dinner on our half day trips, plus plenty of blue runners for some rod bending action, and got into a mess of ladyfish and a few trout in the afternoon as well.  Today we found lots of pompano this morning and caught about 15 or so on a half day islamorada fishing charter.  Also plenty of trout and big ladyfish.  This afternoon we did a similar game plan, no pompano but probalby caught close to 50 trout, plus a few ladyfish and jacks.  On full day trips, there has been some fish around east cape - redfish, black drum, snook, and trout... not red hot fishing but a good pick of fish, and some decent size ones as well.  Today Capt. Bill Bassett and Capt. Mike Bassett reported good fishing in the gulf of mexico in Islamorada.  Mike got some mackerel in the morning, some tripletails, and 3 snook in the afternoon.  Bill reported several nice big tripletail they kept for dinner.  Well we are getting towards the tail end of february fishing in islamorada and hopefully the last cold front of this winter season... wouldn't suprise me if the tarpon start to go off here in the next few days!

Capt. Rick Stanczyk
305-747-6903
rick@seethefloridakeys.net

 

1/21/13 Great weather, great fishing in the florida keys!

Well fishing has continued to be good throughout this january fishing florida keys.  Yesterday and today the Cromwells, Rich and Luke, fished with Capt. Rick Stanczyk and Capt. Nick Stanczyk for some offshore and backcountry fishing.  Yesterday we fished the gulf mostly, stopped at the cape on the way to try and catch a snook.  We were successful and caught 2 nothing real big but snook none the less!  We then ran out into the gulf and hit some structure, no luck at the first stop, so continued west and ran the trap lines.  Tripetails were out, we messed with those for a bit and caught 6 in total all sight casting plus a few for dinner.  Islamorada triple tail fishing is lots of fun!  We hit our wreck destination right on time at the change of the tide.  Cobias popped up fairly quick, we caught 4/5 including one keeper all on light tackle.  We also had one goliath eat a live bait on the bottom though he wasn't able to swallow it and a shark ate it, unfortunately he was being picky and we never got him to bite again.  On the way home we caught some nice trout too, great day on this january backcountry fishing islamorada.  Capt. Ken Cohan also reported a good mix of fish in the bays.  They included spanish mackerel, bluefish, trout, ladyfish, pompano, and jacks.  Mostly fishing muds near the edge of the gulf back towards the cape area.  On the offshore side with the BNM they fished an afternoon 3/4 day.  They caught some tunas early offshore, nice blackfins.  Tuna fishing islamorada has been good as of late and provides great dinner for those that love fish!  They also caught nice yellowtail florida keys reef fishing.  At the end they stuck it out and Luke released 2 sailfish as well!  The Fearless with Capt. Joe Hendrix reported 20 nice blackfin tunas this morning out at the humps.  Also on the Catch 22, Capt. Scott Stanczyk fished Kris and Eugen Fine with a group of 6 including 4 US Army Officers on 1/20/13.  They had 5 sailfish dancing on the surface and caught!  They also caught some large blackfin tuna, a cobia, and bonita.

Capt. Rick Stanczyk
305-747-6903
rick@seethefloridakeys.net 

1/4/13 Backcountry and Gulf Florida Keys Fishing Report

Had Sue Cocking down from the Miami Herald today on 1/4/13 for a little fishing story for the outdoors section of the Herald.  There was a last minute cancellation to her original plans and we set something up the day before.  We decided to go for a backcountry islamorada fishing trip and to showcase a variety of fish, as that is one of the special things about fishing in the florida keys.  We started out near flamingo, fishing some high-water spots near some mangroves for redfish.  We caught about a half dozen or so, as well as a few black drum and sheepshead.  We later moved to some deeper moats on the change of the tide to look for some snook.  We did hook one nice one that broke us off near the boat, and ended up catching a few more black drum and sheepshead.  Later we moved to some other channels where there had been some nice muds with a good mix of fish.  Trout, ladyfish, pompano, and a baby permit were to be had.  All fish to this point were caught on simple shrimp and jigs whilst islamorada fishing.  We started to use some tiny ladyfish pieces to catch pinfish,  and we mohawked them catching a couple dozen while bending the rod with other stuff!  We then headed out into the gulf of mexico fishing as the weather was slick calm and looked too pretty not to try.  We found several tripletail on the way out, and caught several keeping 3 for dinner.  Casting shrimp on a bare hook with tiny float was effective, and we even caught a few on light jigs as some were staying down a little deeper.  We then went gulf wreck fishing and caught several cobias up to 15 lbs, as well as another permit, and a large 100 lb goliath grouper!  Cobias were all caught on our fresh pinfish.  We then wanted to try to catch some mackerel, so we headed back towards sprigger bank and fished a few miles out from there.  On the way we came across something very unusual - several large packs of bonitas in the 8 - 12 lb range feeding on something very small.  We didn't get any bites out of them, but were able to drive right on top to confirm what they were!  As soon as we anchored and casted in our mackerel area we had fish on, we put a little chum out and caught about a dozen spanish mackerel as well as a few bluefishfish and snappers.  We then headed home, another beautiful day here and fun to be had in all areas, not just islamorada flats fishing in the backcountry!  Capt. Vic Gaspeny has reported excellent water and temperature conditions for tarpon fishing in islamorada.  They caught 9 in early morning trips as well as a 30 lb permit.

Capt. Rick Stanczyk
305-747-6903
rick@seethefloridakeys.net 

12/6/12 December islamorada fishing report backcountry

Well it's december and islamorada winter fishing is happening.  Today on 12/6/12 we had a gorgeous day, the rain looked like it may have been an issue with weather pushing in from both sides, however we lucked out.  The wind also laid down almost flat most of the day.  The water in the gulf and backcountry is about as pretty as it gets for this day of december islamorada fishing.  I myself fished for fun with family/friends today for fun and Capt. Jim Willcox fished a charter in the florida keys backcountry.  Capt. Jim reported lots of bugs and noseeums around the mangroves, but they were able to fish in some more open areas and had a good bite of redfish, black drum, and some big trout.  He said almost everywhere they stopped they caught some fish which is good to see, and managed not to get eaten alive by bugs!  We tried fishing some snook spots in the trees however the bugs drove us away so we headed to the gulf.  We ended up catching not a whole lot of fish but several quality ones, including multiple nice cobia.  We did find a pile of large gulf redfish too, catching one of almost 20 lbs that had some that were 30+ lbs with it.  Unfortunately they all took off after they saw the boat, never to return!  Oh well such is life fishing the florida keys.  We also managed to catch some juvenile goliath groupers and triple tail, plus an assortment of spanish mackerel, bluefish, and plenty of jacks/blue runners.  Looks like nice weather for the next few days through the weekend, great time to go out and fishing florida keys in december!

Capt. Rick Stanczyk

10/3/12 October Islamorada Fishing Report

Went fun fishing today with fellow captain Mike Bassett for some October fishing in Islamorada.  We headed way back off the mainland deep in the everglades to check things out.  The winds had been fairly wild the last few days, and on the way there I had my doubts as to whether the fishing would be good.  Lots of muddy water, weeds, etc...  We kept chugging back there and luckily found a few areas where the tide falling out of the creeks was very clean looking water.  We fished all over, trying some new spots and fishing some other mouths, runoffs, and sandbars that I've fished the last couple weeks.  Most spots were holding nice snook in islamorada.  We caught probably a dozen in total and missing another 6 or so, as well as 20 redfish, mostly on pinfish and some on shrimp.  Most the reds were slot size though not many bigger than 22 inches or so.  The tide ran out for a very long time, longer than it was suppose too.  The wind also kept it moving out even when the level started to rise, as we could see the muddy water making its way in - very strange!  Also bagged a nice tripletail on the way home for dinner, as well as a bullshark on light tackle.  I also lost a 15+ lb snook on my engine at the end of the day fishing a new spot - but got a good look at him at least!  Great florida keys fishing in october especially for a day when things didn't look so hot to begin with!  On the offshore side Sugaree stayed on the reef catching some close in mahi, yellowtails, and an unexpected cobia.  The relentless and redfish had some more yellowtails, mutton snapper, black grouper, and cero mackerel mixed in.  The Catch 22 had some nice tunas a couple days ago 10-18 lbs, as well as a 90 lb sword.  That's the great thing about fall fishing in Islamorada is that you never know what you might get since we're in a transitional period!

Capt. Rick Stanczyk